49 Women MPs Took Oath In to Reserved Seats in Bangladesh’s 13th Parliament

Forty-nine newly elected members to the reserved women’s seats in Bangladesh’s 13th National Parliament took their oath on Sunday night. The oath-taking ceremony was held around 9:00 PM in the Jatiya Sangsad oath room, where Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed administered the oath.

According to the Parliament Secretariat, 36 members from the BNP-led alliance, 12 from the Jamaat-e-Islami alliance, and one independent member were sworn in. Following the ceremony, the newly elected MPs signed the official oath register in the Parliament Secretary’s office, as per tradition.

Several prominent political leaders attended the ceremony, including Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, Law Minister Md. Asaduzzaman, Deputy Speaker Kaiser Kamal, Chief Whip Nurul Islam, State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam, and Opposition Chief Whip Nahid Islam.

The event was conducted by Parliament Secretary Md. Golam Sarwar Bhuiyan.

There are a total of 50 reserved seats for women in Parliament. Of these, the Jamaat alliance secured 13 seats; however, one member has not yet been elected. The nomination of their candidate Monira Sharmin was initially rejected during scrutiny. Another candidate, Nusrat Tabassum, had her nomination declined for being submitted past the deadline. Later, following a court order, her nomination was accepted and declared valid after review, though she has not yet been officially declared elected.

Meanwhile, Monira Sharmin has filed a writ petition challenging the Election Commission’s decision, which is still pending resolution.